a. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to software application testing, including the generation and execution of test cases for testing a software application.
b. Background Art
This background description is set forth below for the purpose of providing context only. Therefore, any aspects of this background description, to the extent that it does not otherwise qualify as prior art, is neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the instant disclosure.
An important task in the introduction or modification of a software-based system is testing and quality control of the features of the system. In known systems, testing is generally performed in a fully manual or semi-automated fashion. In fully manual testing, a tester may manually input a series of manually-derived actions for testing the functionality of the system (one or more of which actions may be included in a test case) and manually record the outcome. In semi-automated testing, one or more aspects of the testing process may be automated.
Both manual and semi-automatic testing have numerous drawbacks. First, both require a significant amount of manual intervention to generate and/or execute test cases. The burden of this manual activity can be significant—manual generation of test cases can consume hundreds of man-hours or more. Furthermore, as software systems become increasingly complex, the time required for manual test generation continues to increase. Second, test cases are generally applied against a model or replica of the system, rather than the system itself. As a result, the accuracy of the test results depend on the accuracy of the replica, which may not be a perfect replica and thus may return different results than the system itself. Third, test case generation and execution are generally implemented by different programs, entities, etc., further increasing the time required for and complexity involved with testing.
There is, therefore, a need for solutions that minimize or eliminate one or more of the above-described shortcomings. The foregoing discussion is intended only to illustrate the present field and should not be taken as a disavowal of claim scope.